Flaco the Owl's Wild Year in New York Becomes a Documentary

Wild Inside chronicles Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo in 2023 and spent more than a year roaming Manhattan, captivating locals and birdwatchers before dying in a collision with a building. The film blends New Yorkers’ testimonies with dreamlike footage to ask what “wildness” means in a concrete jungle, while noting Flaco’s health troubles—pigeon herpes and exposure to rodent poisons—and a city push toward rat contraception via “Flaco’s Law.” It opens July 31 in New York and nationwide in over 40 theaters.